1 minute ago, WERRIDEE said:

Tommy is not a forward. I think we forget how good he was down back. I'd like to believe Jones hasn't lost it but I think he has. This should be his last season. He was terrible last year.

You've obviously got a short memory of the huge number of heart in mouth moments when Tommy was kicking the ball out of defence. Christ, please never again. 

11 minutes ago, Dame Gaga said:

I really don't know what to think of this game. The uncertainty of the times we are in weigh heavily on all of us. When 2020 began nobody could have foreseen a pandemic sweeping the world, changing all our lives in such an extraordinary way. We looked forward to the year with some optimism, hoping to put last year behind us. 

Now all of us are in a fight against an unseen and deadly enemy who doesn't fight fair. It has not only robbed people of their lives, but robbed people of their enjoyment of life. We are now in lockdown and face an uncertain future. Perhaps playing football didn't mean much anymore. 

The way the virus was moving through countries around the world I was surprised the AFL even started the season. The whole first round seems pointless now. IF the season restarts it will be like playing the first game again. 

Life has got very depressing and very difficult, very quickly. Let's hope that doctor in Queensland finds the cure by the winter as he said on 60 Minutes tonight. Well, he seemed hopeful.

(On another note, it really bothered me to see Hawthorn playing on the MCG today, and Clarkson's smug face after the win. It's about time the b#$#$y Eagles should be made to fly over to play Melbourne at the MCG for a change.)  

Anyway, yes I was disappointed by the performance. I just don't know whether I should place it as important in the scheme of things at the moment, even though I love my team, and have supported them for many years. 

Sorry if I sound depressed. (I am a Melbourne supporter?)

We sold our games to Darwin or Alice for WC the last few years haven't we?

3 minutes ago, MelbourneFootballChub said:

You are on your own. Reckon this rhetoric would come out of Richmond? Or any top 12 side... we were a pathetic carbon copy of last year. 

It's not coming out of our club either.

Doesn't change the fact that it's a fact.

Just now, Undeeterred said:

You've obviously got a short memory of the huge number of heart in mouth moments when Tommy was kicking the ball out of defence. Christ, please never again. 

His kicking is better now he just can't get the ball up forward. I think he should be back. He's a better backman than what Oscar ever was.

30 minutes ago, Mel Bourne said:

The sooner I see the back of Simple Simon the better.

The most glaring flaw last year was the inability to convert due to rubbish disposals going inside 50. How can a team emerge from months of training without this issue being absolutely and utterly addressed? There was not a modicum of improvement in that area. That game was like watching round 25 of the 2019 season. I cannot stand our coach. I am sick to the gills of watching his lights on, nobody home, deer in headlights face. He talks absolute corporate-speak nonsense, and he sucks at his job. I can't invest emotionally in this club anymore until that low IQ turkey is gone and replaced by somebody who can walk and chew gum at the same time.

I don't think I've laughed harder all week.

Thank you!

Just now, Undeeterred said:

You've obviously got a short memory of the huge number of heart in mouth moments when Tommy was kicking the ball out of defence. Christ, please never again. 

Need another forward to let Tommy be second forward think.

1 minute ago, 58er said:

Need another forward to let Tommy be second forward think.

Agree. He played much better with Jesse

We all need to look at this in perspective in that it was basically another practise game with poor preparation having to fly in late and play a game that really it looked like no one wanted to play. That aside we still have issues with our mids being lazy other than Viney in not pushing hard enough back to assist when Weagles got the ball in our forward line. You would have thought that our players were taking into account the instructions from the Govt. to stay as far away as possible from others !!. No use talking about our skills as we have none.

16 minutes ago, Undeeterred said:

It's not coming out of our club either.

Doesn't change the fact that it's a fact.

Maybe the club should do a 10 week Corona virus video series?

That'll show everyone 

Called a six-goal loss maybe a week ago (check the archives - @Pates can back me up), revised down from a four-goal win. Everyone was super-chuffed about no crowd - but footballers simply can't travel 4000-odd clicks across a continent and perform in an empty stadium against the home tenants - especially when their loved ones are at home and you can't even get within four square metres of the flight attendant, let alone achieve any mile high credits. Any criticism of the team or Goodwin right now is untoward and misguided. Imagine fronting up alongside William Wallace when you've been forewarned an hour prior by some weirdos called Bill and Ted (or Gill) that the land will ultimately be ceded regardless. Enjoy your next twelve weeks of freeeeedom from MFCSS my friends. 

1 hour ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Guys, most here who are realists predicted a 30+ point loss. Admittedly, we played like we were still in preseason mode, but 27 point loss over there, amidst all that is happening isn't world ending. There were a lot of new faces out there today and teams generally take time to gel. I am not excusing how poor the i50 entries were, there is a clear lack of connection. I will line up Goodwin though. His setup and lack of pressure on Eagles ball carriers is a structural issue he has implemented and it absolutely stinks. The allowance of opposition sides to simply kick to unmarked players is alarming and unforgivable. He has a lot to work on in the next 10 weeks. He also, not for the 1st time, tried to make a medium sized forward our key target. Fritsch had 2 or three defenders swarm him all game and there was a clear directive to kick to him at all costs. pathetic.

Spargo should play an entire season at Casey. He'd be lucky to get a game in VAFA 1sts side. Can't mark overhead and is an appalling ball user. His 50 metre penalty was inexcusable. He directly contributed to 4 Eagles goals. Simply not good enough. 

Positives were Kozzie and Bedford. Vines was outstanding and Trac was good. 

Gawn must have been underdone, as he had played a half of footy all preseason. 

Backline held up ok. 

"I will line up Goodwin though. His setup and lack of pressure on Eagles ball carriers is a structural issue he has implemented and it absolutely stinks. The allowance of opposition sides to simply kick to unmarked players is alarming and unforgivable"

 

this is the unforgiveable part for me also. when the opposition move the ball it should be under great pressure at leat by the idr kick. to oftne it was not.

4 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Called a six-goal loss maybe a week ago (check the archives - @Pates can back me up), revised down from a four-goal win. Everyone was super-chuffed about no crowd - but footballers simply can't travel 4000-odd clicks across a continent and perform in an empty stadium against the home tenants - especially when their loved ones are at home and you can't even get within four square metres of the flight attendant, let alone achieve any mile high credits. Any criticism of the team or Goodwin right now is untoward and misguided. Imagine fronting up alongside William Wallace when you've been forewarned an hour prior by some weirdos called Bill and Ted (or Gill) that the land will ultimately be ceded regardless. Enjoy your next twelve weeks of freeeeedom from MFCSS my friends. 

Looked to be a few players simply going through the motions at times. Patches of lack of concentration and intensity. It smelt of preseason game. I am not sure their hearts were in it. The long flight at an awkward time and odd preparation saw them play below their best, I can agree with that.

however, the structure of our forward line is deplorable. And, the delivery into the forward line provides us no chance to actually win games. It must be improved. Weed in after the lockdown and I’d even give Jackson a go. Out spargo and brown. Both offered nothing. Spargo offered 4 goals to the opposition 

To hell and back, and, back again...

7 minutes ago, Skuit said:

Called a six-goal loss maybe a week ago (check the archives - @Pates can back me up), revised down from a four-goal win. Everyone was super-chuffed about no crowd - but footballers simply can't travel 4000-odd clicks across a continent and perform in an empty stadium against the home tenants - especially when their loved ones are at home and you can't even get within four square metres of the flight attendant, let alone achieve any mile high credits. Any criticism of the team or Goodwin right now is untoward and misguided. Imagine fronting up alongside William Wallace when you've been forewarned an hour prior by some weirdos called Bill and Ted (or Gill) that the land will ultimately be ceded regardless. Enjoy your next twelve weeks of freeeeedom from MFCSS my friends. 

Not sure about this Skuit. It's the manner they lost. This bomb to the opposition in our forward 50 has eveyone pretty peeved. Has been going on for three seasons. Pre-season, Goodwin promised a gameplan that supporters could relate to. Well, we all relate  to it and it is crap. And it isn't bad decision making by players. It is obvious that Hibberd, Langdon, etc (and Jones last year) are instructed to do this. Our forwards haven't a hope.

Wake me up when Corona has gone away and we have a new coach.

Footy in the time of Coronavirus

HEADLINE: Dees practice ‘social distancing’ whenever West Coast get the ball.

my take aways from the game.

1. worst game I have seen from Max in a long time. Half paced and lack of contest. Not just against Nic Nak but also the WC back up. Very poor first game as Captain.

2. Viney was very good.

3. Oliver half paced and lazy.

4. Spargo? Spargo? If Spargo is the answer then you are asking the wrong questions. Very poor.

5. Forward structure is non-existent. It is all very well selecting three small, one dimensional forwards, but if they are not at the fall of the ball in the forward 50, th e they are a luxury you cannot afford.

6. kicking is as bad as I have seen. Both field kicking and goal kicking need to be a focus for the next two months.

7. key defenders were good. OMac, May and to a lesser extent, Lever, all played their roles well. We were let down by the medium sized defenders, Yes, I am looking at you Hibberd and Jetta.

8. Lack of pressure, awareness and accountability, hence ‘social distancing’. Poor poor poor.

9. Brown must have taken over Chris Dawes’ locker and found his brick gloves. Please give Weideman a chance.

10. Lockhart was ok but in the first quarter left his opponent and drifted towards the contest. Result? He is caught in no mans land, ball flipped over his head to his opponent unattended in the goal square. goal.

4 hours ago, dimmy said:

We reckon last year was an exception I think the one before was.

How come WC had so many intercept uncontested marks in OUR forward line > Because we continue to bomb it in .

Hibberd has been practicing by kicking it to cardboard cutouts it seems. Well in this short season these cutouts actually move ( especially the opposition ones )

Viney was great so I will cut him some slack for a couple of poor disposals. Brayshaw came good when he was on the ball. Trac has arrived , he loves short seasons.

Pickert shows Jeffie when he was fit, a good first up effort.

Sorry , but Spargo has not quite come along and Browne must be waiting for Weids to be fit.

MAy & OMac kept Kennedy & Darling relatively quiet.

Some positives, but completely undone by the way the ball was delivered into the Fwd line !!!!!

Kennedy 4 disposals. I reckon that was VERY QUIET not relatively quiet.

4 hours ago, chook fowler said:

Brown is a horrible footballer and should never play again. I was an apologist for Spargo - no more. He was worse than hopeless. Hibberd is one of the main turnover offenders. Jeffy had a mare. Tomlinson gave little to be excited about. 

The main positives were Viney,  Kozzie and Lockhart.

Goodwin has a lot to answer for. 

You don't seem to like Brown do you? An earlier post would confirm that.There were quite a lot worse than him today.

Round 1,2020 and here we are rationalising why we lost.

Again.

And the club gets annoyed when supporters say "here we go again".

Makes sense.

 

25 minutes ago, CHF said:

He is caught in no mans land

Gets caught there too often...

37 minutes ago, dee-tox said:

Not sure about this Skuit. It's the manner they lost. This bomb to the opposition in our forward 50 has eveyone pretty peeved. Has been going on for three seasons. Pre-season, Goodwin promised a gameplan that supporters could relate to. Well, we all relate  to it and it is crap. And it isn't bad decision making by players. It is obvious that Hibberd, Langdon, etc (and Jones last year) are instructed to do this. Our forwards haven't a hope.

How's things mate? I'm stuck in Oz, my lady in Sri Lanka, and maybe my ma in NZ. I know I'm struggling to get it up at the moment. Apologies for the crass analogy, but I think if you took away the scars from last season then none of us would even bother to judge. Chris Scott was super-serene last night. Anyway, the season is over, and if the [censored] really hits the fan, there's a spare boat sitting there in Centrum that you're welcome to grab. 

Can't understand whil Gil/AFL made the season suspension statement before this game was played. It probably wouldn't have changed the result, but it seems weird to me.

Do we get a priority pick for finishing the season on 0 wins? 

I know we have our excuses on why we played so poorly but to be proud of the club after that stinker is just excepting mediocrity. Gawn is the wrong captain too nice and Goodwin is just as bad he has no answers. Time for a change of coach and captain. Viney never should have been demoted.

Positives (here I go!):

Viney was BOG for us easily, in everything all day, he did have a few turn overs but he worked hard to retrieve it after any mistakes made. He has responded well to going VC. 

Bedford and Pickett, both were in the right spots, tackling and working hard. Pickett in particular shamed his senior teammates in two way running and working to make an option. Maybe that last goal was a glimpse of the future. 

We got enough of the ball, and clearly plenty of opportunities to get looks on goal. There’s something to work with. 
 

Negatives (where to begin)

Poor kicking on goal, how many times in the last 12 months have we kicked ourselves out of the contest? It’s frustrating and demoralising. 

Poor disposals in general, I’m not sure if there was a jumper clash at times but there were points we seemed gladly hand the ball over. The few times we started trying to hit up passes in the forward line a lot of them were simply not good enough. There were some serial offenders that made we want to toss my phone at the TV. 

Effort was not there for certain players. Maybe it’s the effect the @Skuit believes in with no crowd, but to me it’s pure laziness. Oliver was a serial offender in this regard, he genuinely looked like he was jogging on the spot. There was no effort to double back an lead to create space. Given our pre-season doco was all about fitness I hope Burgess is furious. 

Game plan, Goodwin was all pumped about winning on all levels and how the will recognise the style. At the moment all I see is chaos and poor execution of skills, if our plan is to kick deep than have our forwards stay deep, if we’re hitting up leads then lower the effing eyes. Around the ground I could see a semblance of what I think they want, but all falls apart with certain offenders get on the end of it. 
 

Disappointing but not all that surprising start to the year. GWS look good, 0-2 here we come (eventually).